Symbolic Interaction
George
Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer, etc.
I. Roots
in Max Weber
A. Ideal Types (& the importance
of motives)
1. Social Action (~~
behavior guided by the meanings people attach to themselves [and their
behavior] and the
situation)
II. Social
Interaction: (~~ behavior among two or more persons guided by the
shared understandings of meaning) (not Weber, per se, but extrapolated from his
work)
A. Shared understandings achieved via
symbols (“vehicles of meaning”)
III. G. H.
Mead & Socialization
A. We become a “social self” in and
through the process of symbolic interaction
1. Primary socialization: two stages
a) play:
taking on the attitude of significant others
b) game:
taking on the attitude of the generalized other
2. Secondary socialization works the
same way: you become a student, an employee, a lover, a spouse, a parent by learning and taking into
yourself
a) a
set of beliefs, values, meanings, attitudes
b) & corresponding
patterns of behavior
IV. S. I.,
and the focus on meaning, is among the most significant developments in social
theory in the last century
A. Huge influence on, and is reflected
in:
1. phenomenology
2. ethnomethodology
3. gender
roles
4. social
psychology
5. studies
of deviance
a.
labeling theory
6. social
problems (the social constructionist approach)
V. Key
Ideas in
A. s. i.
—> the “peculiar and distinctive” character of interaction
1. we
interpret/define each other’s actions
2.
we don’t respond directly to a “stimulus,” but to our
interpretations of the actions of another
3. so,
stimulus —> interpretation —> response
B. we have a self
1.
we can be the object of our own actions
2. constantly
making
indications to ourselves about those things of which we are conscious
a) Blumer: a “constant flow of self-indications”
3. self-indications are
the mechanism of interpretation
C. To indicate something is to make
it into an object
1. the
object is not simply a stimulus
2.
it stimulates, but interpretation, which becomes the
basis for a response
3.
the social situation, and what we are doing, drives us
to select certain objects for interpretation
D. action is built-up, NOT a simple
release
1. in
the course of action/interaction, we indicate to ourselves things we need to take into account
E. the process of indication always
takes place in a social context
1.
we are constantly aligning our lines of action with
those of others
2. we
do this alignment by taking the role of others
a)
trying to ascertain their intentions and directions
and align with that
VI. Three
essential premises
A.
Human
society is made up individuals who have selves (they make indications to
themselves)
B.
Individual
action is a construction, not a release, built up through a process of noting
and interpreting features of the situation
C.
group
action consists of the aligning of individual actions, brought about by the
interpretations and subsequent actions, of all participants in the group
VII.
Society in symbolic interactionist perspective
A. society consists of acting people
(remember Weber’s definition)
1. acting
“units” may be individuals, groups, organizations
B.
The action is performed or constructed by interpreting the situation
1.
again, whatever the “unit” action is based on
interpreted meaning
C.
most of the situations we encounter are defined by people in pretty much the
same way
1. and this
is what S. I. means by “structures”
2. thus,
we may not notice the interpretive activity so easily
3.
the interpretational acts are most noticeable when
there is a conflict of interpretation
